The Video Spotlight Series highlights videos from the Fifthroom.com YouTube channel. These videos give you a chance to take a multi-dimensional look at our furniture and structures.

Porch swings add a space where you can relax and enjoy the outdoors on a sunny morning or breezy evening after dinner. While they definitely add curb appeal to front porches, these swings are more about the experience. Countless people have had long conversations, held hands and enjoyed a cup of coffee on porch swings.

Check out the video below of the Treated Pine Fanback Porch Swing, which:

Features contoured deep seating, which provides comfort (with one customer calling it “the most comfortable swing I have ever sat in”)

With a little more than two months left in the summer of 2015, we’re checking in on which color trends are really heating up across the U.S. when it comes to outdoor living.

While the classic black/white/grey pallet is a safe bet, these color trends are sure to brighten a few outdoor parties. Check them out:

Lime – At first thought, the color lime can seem a bit . . . sour. Don’t shy away! Lime is actually a great accent color for outdoor spaces. It’s bright and it easily complements a variety of other colors you might have in your outdoor area, including white, grey, navy and orange.

Coral – Coral made the list because it works in so many different styles, from vintage to contemporary. Its versatility means you can use it as a dominant color (seating cushions, umbrellas) or as an accent color (pillows, flowers, candles).

All shades of blue – From nautical blue to teal to navy blue, blue is in for the summer. The blue spectrum is preferred by many because it can easily fit in with whatever color scheme or theme you’re working with, whether you’re going for a starch masculine appeal or a hint of femininity, blue just works. Some have even gone as far to say that blue is the new black!

Marsala – as you might remember, earlier in 2015 the Pantone Institute named marsala the color of the year. Pantone describes it as “a naturally robust and earthy wine red, marsala enriches our minds, bodies and souls,” which makes it the perfect color for using in an outdoor living area. Marsala can be elegant, yet natural, so it can work whether you’re looking to decorate a gazebo with a chandelier or a pergola surrounded by natural landscaping.

The Video Spotlight Series highlights videos from the Fifthroom.com YouTube channel. These videos give you a chance to take a multi-dimensional look at our furniture and structures.

Adding a large structure such as a pergola, cabana or gazebo to your outdoor living area creates a whole new space to relax and connect with family and friends – beyond the living room or dining room table. So, once you decide to order a structure, you just need to get it standing and then you’ll be ready to enjoy it for years to come.

Sound intimidating? You can do it in just a day. Fifthroom’s structures and furniture are designed so it’s easy to assemble things like a cabana. Still doubting it? Here’s how to assemble a cabana. Follow the steps or watch the video to see how it’s done!

Organize the kit: As the cabana kit arrives, remove the pieces from the truck and stack like pieces together: keep roof pieces with roof pieces and walls with walls. All pieces have numbers on them, which tell you what order to assemble them.

Lay a foundation: To start assembling, build from the ground up. You’ll need to decide what foundation type you’d like. The video below shows a double, 2 x 12 support beam system with a gravel bed. Form the floor structure by assembling the four to six small floor sections that attach together.

Add walls: With the floor in place, set the pre-assembled walls using a nail gun or the included screws from the inside. Secure the walls from the outside using the nail gun or included screens. Match the corners by setting them up so they come to a point. You’ll add trim pieces later.

Install the roof support: Once the walls are in place, you’re going to add the roof to the cabana. Start with the angled 2 x 6 roof plates. Fit all four pieces together at the four corners of the structure.

Prep for the roof: Next comes the fascia boards. You’ll need a 50 percent split to provide enough support for the roof. Measure the board and put a mark half way so you know where to attach it to the roof plates.

Add the trim: Now add the trim to the wall corners. Use the included finishing nails.

Raise the roof: Add the roof panels. Start with the long pieces first, then add the smaller pieces.

Seal the roof: Cap the joints of the roof using tar paper. Add the provided shingles over the tar paper, and install the cupola by placing it over the ridge.

Add the finishing touches to the inside: Now finish the inside by securing the provided panels.

Add the finishing touches to the outside: Install the window options. In the video, shutters are shown.

Committing to a home or backyard project can be daunting. How much time will it take? How much will it cost? Will I be able to get anything else done while I’m doing it, or will it become all-consuming?

Well, while some homeowner projects can end up eating a ton of time and money (i.e. kitchen renovations), there are some that you can crank out in as little as a Saturday afternoon, and after a few hours, you’ve enhanced your outdoor living space. For some ideas, here are five do-it-yourself backyard projects you can do this weekend.

2. Add a climbing plant to your pergola for some extra shade: This is a two-step project that requires a little researching and planning on the front end. First, you should figure out the right plant based on the climate you live in, which you can learn more about here. The plant options range from vines to flowers, perennials to annuals. Once you decide the type of plant you want, plant it about one and half feet away from the pergola and secure it to the structure with garden wire to train it to grow onto the structure.

3. Build a raised garden bed: This is a good project if your soil hasn’t been fruitful in the past. It requires a few building materials and if you build it close to your back patio, you can use it to easily access fruits and vegetables while cooking.

4. Add curtains to your gazebo, cabana or porch: Curtains keep the sun and rain out of your outdoor living space, and add some privacy. They’re good for the hot Texas sun or rainy summer nights in the Northeast U.S. They can be easy to make, especially if you follow these no sew drop cloth curtain directions.

5. Install landscape lighting: This project can vary in difficulty, depending on the type of lights you want to install, but can be done in day. The easiest thing to do would be to get solar lights, which don’t require wiring. If you’d like brighter lighting, which would require some wiring, check out this tutorial.

The Video Spotlight Series highlights videos from the Fifthroom.com YouTube channel. These videos give you a chance to take a multi-dimensional look at our furniture.

If you’re in the market for a new picnic table, you probably already know that there are tons of options out there. You need to decide on the size, material, stain, and style before committing to a piece. After all, the table will probably host countless holiday picnics, spontaneous dinners outside, and summer game nights.

Whether you’re going to use the picnic table as patio furniture or for backyard space, we’ve put together a Video Spotlight of Treated Pine Picnic Tables to help you make the best decision. Check out the videos below, or visit fifthroom.com to browse other outdoor furniture and place your order today.

Treated Pine Wide Picnic Table with 4 Backed Benches

This heavy duty, 43-plus inches wide picnic table comes with four backed benches, great for a get-together with friends. It’s available in multiple lengths, and there’s an option to add a 2-inch umbrella hole at no charge, so you can use this for patio furniture or put it in your backyard and add an umbrella for shade.

Treated Pine Trestle Picnic Table

The trestle picnic table is great for a home or business. Businesses like it because it’s durable and the benches can be tucked underneath so you can maximize your outdoor space when the table is not in use.

Treated Pine Hexagon Picnic Table

With the hexagon shape, this picnic table can seat six people, has a width of 60 inches, and includes a trim on each side so it’s smooth to the touch. This shape is excellent for game nights or lunches or dinners.

Treated Pine Picnic Table with Attached Benches

This is a classic model that Fifthroom.com has carried exclusively for years and many businesses, homeowners and public parks have purchased it. With a solid, wide, 2×6 design on the table top, benches and legs, it’s a high-quality, sturdy picnic table that will be ready for use for years to come.

Treated Pine Octagon Walk In Picnic Table

“Walk in” means there are spaces between the benches on each of the eight sides so you can walk in and sit down, so you don’t have to climb over the benches to sit down.

From landscaping to pergola and gazebo decorations, these pinners have everything you need to jump-start your outdoor design creativity.

Pinterest launched in 2010, and in a period of five years, has reached more than 47 million pinners world-wide, including us. It allows us to collect ideas and share outdoor projects quicker than ever before. Here are our top 10 Pinners to Follow for Outdoor Inspiration.

California Home and Design – This California-based website covers everything from art to architecture to home design. They believe that design is personal, and that’s reflected in their pins, which highlight unique indoor and outdoor living spaces. Our favorite boards include go outside and in and out.

Architectural Digest – Not too long ago, great architecture could only be seen by those with the means and time to travel to see it in-person. Now, Architectural Digest is doing the traveling for us and showing us the best designs in the world, with pins showcasing indoor and outdoor living from New York, Paris, London, L.A., Miami and more. The boards that we like include Home + Spaces You Love and Indoor-Outdoor Living.

Decoholic – The mastermind behind Decoholic’s boards is Melina Divani, who says interior design is her infinite passion. She has Pinterest boards that are dedicated to making indoor and outdoor living the comforting, welcoming place it should be. Our favorite boards include Outdoor and home décor ideas (pull up a seat for this board – it’s a shared board with more than 1,600 pinners and has 58,000+ pins).

Justina Blakeney – Justina Blakeney runs a lifestyle blog, just released a new book and has over 1.2 million followers. Her style uses bright colors – so much red, orange and yellow! — and a mix-and-match approach, making her projects and home design feel fun, funky and freeing. Our favorite boards are Patio Overhaul and the Great Outdoors.

The fuller view – Boston-based David Fuller is a designer and photographer with a wide range of visual capacity, from fashion to interior design to landscapes. His pins showcase truly stunning pictures of how beautiful life can be. Our favorite boards are g a r d e n s and p o r c h.

House Beautiful Magazine – Whether you’re decorating your summer home by the lake, renovating your kitchen in the suburbs or redecorating your kids’ rooms, House Beautiful Magazine has a few ideas you could use. Their huge Outdoor Spaces board is one of our favorites.

You can follow Fifthroom.com on Pinterest to see what we’re pinning and be inspired to beautify your outdoor living areas. Or, if you’re ready to buy some outdoor furniture, head over to fifthroom.com.

How to use Fifthroom.com’s Award-winning Design Wizard

Design a landscape structure from the ground up using Fifthroom.com’s Design Wizard, our award-winning online tool. You can even work with dedicated project advisors, in-house architects and designers free of charge. To help you through the process, we’ve put together a step-by-step guide to using our Design Wizard to design a Gazebo:

Entertaining this summer? Don’t forget these essentials!

If you’ve ever lived on the North East coast, you know that most people hibernate inside during the winter – and when summer rolls around, almost everyone does the opposite. They are suddenly outside all the time! Even if you’ve never seen snow in your life, you understand the joys of summer outdoor entertaining.